Teaching German in Japan – The Truth About Job Opportunities

Why, you ask?
Well, that’s because it’s extremely difficult to find a job as a German teacher in Japan.
German isn’t exactly seen as an “important” foreign language, especially not in Japan. Most Japanese people already struggle enough with their English.
I know that quite a few people take German language courses in university, but even those are RARELY ever taught by a native speaker.

Photo: Okinawa, Miyako Island – Ueno German Culture Village

Compared to the massive demand of English teachers in Japan, teaching German in Japan isn’t big at all. Even other European languages are more popular (e.g. French).
But, of course there are a few options for teaching German in Japan and I want to introduce them to you today.

Before we start let me tell you that most of these options require you to have a native level of German, a university degree, a DAF (German as a foreign language) qualification or even a teaching qualification (German: “Staatsexamen für Lehramt”).

Teaching German in Japan – JET Programme

I’m sure you’ve all heard of the JET programme. This is pretty much your best option when you want to teach English as an ALT (assistant language teacher) in Japan. But the programme isn’t limited to English-speaking countries. It also exists in Germany.
However, there’s only 0-1 ALT positions per year, so you can imagine how competitive it is.
Your chances probably don’t look too good.

Teaching German in Japan – German / International Schools

Unfortunately there are only two “German Schools” in Japan. One is in Kobe, the other, bigger one is in Yokohama.
You need to have a university degree (just like for teaching English), but it has to be a teaching degree (German: “abgeschlossenes Lehramtstudium”).
The requirements might be less strict for a part-time job, but generally the competition is HUGE as there are only a few positions available every now and then.

You might be lucky and find an international school in Japan that’s looking for a German teacher, but those opportunities are extremely rare. As I don’t have any personal experience with this nor do I know anyone who does, I unfortunately cannot tell you more about it.

Teaching German in Japan – The Big Eikaiwa Schools

Yes, eikaiwa (英会話) stands for “English Conversation Schools”, but some of the big schools (e.g. AEON, Berlitz) sometimes look for teachers of other foreign languages as well.
But be aware that competition is harsh and more often than not it’s only part-time jobs they’re offering. There’s just not enough demand for foreign languages other than English.

Teaching German in Japan – The Goethe Institut

I’m sure you’ve heard about the “Goethe Institut” as they’re a worldwide institution where people can learn German.
Of course, they also exist in Japan (Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe) and thus it’s a great job opportunity if you want to teach German in Japan.

It’s probably also the one that comes closest to an eikaiwa.

Again competition is harsh and you have to carefully check the job requirements.
Usually you’ll need AT LEAST a university degree and a DAF (“Deutsch als Fremdsprache” = German as a foreign language) qualification to have a chance.
This just shows how high the quality of lessons is. It’s surely different from the eikaiwa world where pretty much ANYONE who has a degree and a passport of an English-speaking country “can” teach.

There are often fun collaborations or competitions!

For example, in 2013 the Goethe Institut in Tokyo hosted an interesting translation competition. German language learners in all over Japan could take part. In order to win they were supposed to translate the refrain of a German song (“Der Anfang ist nah” by “Käptn Peng und die Tentakel von Delphi”) into Japanese. Finally they had to rap their translation and send in a video of it.

The winner was Tomoko Izumi together with her daughter Mana. The German music band even travelled to Tokyo for the award ceremony. The band and Mana as a singer gave three concerts in Tokyo and also performed the song for a music video together:

*sponsored video

Teaching German in Japan – Other Options

Well, never say never, right?
There are various options to teach German part-time, e.g. as a private teacher or in a ‘language café”.
Especially if you’re in Japan on a “working holiday visa” (sorry this is only available for German citizens, not for Austrian or Swiss people …), this might be a great option for you!
In order to find German teaching jobs, I highly recommend to check out GaijinPot!

Teaching German in Japan – Your Experience?

As you know I’ve never taught German in Japan, so I’d love to hear about your experience.
There’s a lack of information about this topic, so please feel free to share away!
Even if it’s not about you, but about someone you know, that’s totally fine.
Although I’ve been in Japan for several years now, I only know one person who’s teaching German full-time in Japan.
It’s rare, period. We probably all should work hard to get Japanese people interested in the German language! *g*

So, to all my Japanese readers:
日本の皆さん、ドイツ語を勉強してください！すごくおもしろいだ・・・と思います！！(^^;)・・・
先のビデオを見ましたでしょうか。あれみたいなかっこいい通訳コンテストもありますし。２０１３年の通訳コンテストは東京の「ゲーテ・インスティトゥート」が行いました。

I am Dutch so that will probably even more difficult to find a job teaching Dutch haha. ;-) But i was wondering if you always need a university degree to teach English in Japan? Not that i am directly interested but i was just wondering. Could you shed some light on this?

That’s a question a lot of people ask. :)
You don’t necessarily need a degree in order to find a job, but for obtaining a work visa you will need one.
So, if you have your “own” work visa (e.g. working holiday visa, spouse visa), it’s very likely that you’ll find a position as an English teacher without having a degree (of course given that your English is good enough).

I totally make so much sense you don’t teach German. I’ve been wondering you don’t teach German. As an undergraduate uni student, I think there is a lot of room to consider language teaching. Of course I Japanese can not do anything about AT LEAST English well. Needless to say, you know this fact almost all Japanese love a score they take at exam like a TOEIC. I hate so much ,though. This is a reason it is needed to write a resume when they graduate from their uni and do a job-hunting. I mean they are studying for a score. They don’t even have the will to use language as the means of communication. From this reality we can tell why you foreigners are treated as foreigner although your Japanese is so good. I study languages( English and German) BY MYSELF. I’ve learnt many things other than language. When I study a certain language I can also learn that culture. If they studied English very hard you would not feel uncomfortable like what you wrote. I spend many years in this environment. Almost all students are not interested in English and, of course its culture but exam, 英検 and whatever. Do you know why? In my opinion, it’s because here Japan is a island. We had been completely isolated for many hundred years. So it was not necessary to think of foreigner. If they keep doing this style it is better we continue to 鎖国 I think. 完全に方向性が違ってる。なんで語学を勉強するのかもっと真剣になってもいいと思う。英語ですら未だにこんな扱われ方なんだから、独逸語なんてもってのほか。。。ごめんね。でも僕はやってるよ！一人で。東京の青山のGoethe-Institueなんて行けないよ。図書館には行ってたけどね〜。一階のレストランおすすめです。機会があれば是非訪れてみてください。

P.S.: Sorry, my broken English. I wanna ask for your correction ,though. If I do so you charge me. :D I keep trying hard on my own.

I think the way Japanese people learn English in school is wrong. Like you said it’s mainly in order to get high scores in tests like TOEIC, TOEFL or Eiken.
But they don’t learn how to actually USE the language. (Although Eiken at least has an interview part.)

For people with a Working Holiday Visa there is also the opportunity to teach German privately (you can probably get 2000-4000 yen per hour); there are a lot of internet sites where you can sign up and receive messages from people who want to learn or practice their German, and you can for example meet in a cafe to teach. But of course you can’t make a living just with that and for the rare fulltime German teaching jobs, as you said, you at least need a university degree and the DAF certificate or even more teaching qualifications.

About Zooming Japan

This Japan blog is run by Jasmine T. Blossom - a German who's lived in Japan for over 7 years.

She has travelled to all 47 Japanese prefectures and over 100 Japanese castles, experienced natural disasters, cultural oddities and work life in Japan. She loves exploring things off the beaten path, so you'll find a lot of great travel inspiration here.

In this blog Jasmine offers a close-up view of all the good and bad that comes with living and traveling in Japan. Hire her as a Japan expert.